Welcome to Soroptimist International of Yorkshire

Message from Regional President Rita Leaman 2019/20      

Welcome to the webpage of Soroptimist International (SI) of Yorkshire, part of a global women’s voluntary service organisation.  Soroptimists work to transform the lives of women and girls through education, empowering and enabling opportunities.

My name is Rita Leaman, a member of SI Scarborough, one of twenty-one clubs in the Yorkshire Region, which has membership of over 450 women.

I joined SI York Ebor in 2006 and became President in 2012/13.  I stood as Communications Officer for the SI Yorkshire Region 2012/14. Due to a house move, I transferred to SI Scarborough in 2015, becoming President in 2016/17 and Programme Action Officer.  In 2018, I became Vice President and President Elect 2018/19. It is honour to hold this position and look forward to continuing the theme ‘A Power of a Second Chance”  2017/19, but with a twist.

The theme for 2019/20 will be ‘Not a…Write-Off” and will cover a variety of programme action in the Yorkshire clubs. Working with women of all ages and children from birth. There will be Literary  and Recycling projects and Recycling.

Current Projects

We have already forged strong links with a local Women’s Prison, during which time we have helped with the refurbishment of their craft room. We will be holding our June 2020 Regional Council Meeting there again, as we have done this year.

We will also maintain contact with local charities who support refugees and asylum seekers, and hope to continue working with The Prince’s Trust, which began earlier this year.

Federation President Isobel Smith has chosen for her year 2019/20, the theme ‘We Stand Up for Women’.The clubs SI Yorkshire will be doing exactly that.

President Rita

Soroptimist International of Yorkshire is part of a global network of approximately 77,000 Soroptimist in 124 countries across the world and we greatly value our special link to the United Nations.